Hollywood is a Verb
A very good book to recommend, a song about UFOs, humid Ruscha
Hello for the first time in a while,
Los Angeles is hot and much of the world is burning (*except for friends in Henan, who are flooded instead).
For a few droplets of refreshment, a manageable mist not a flood, here are some late 60s/early 70s images from a particularly splashy series by quintessential L.A. artist Ed Ruscha. I always think of Ruscha's paintings as being "dry", products of an arid desert climate. The stark cut-out of hills against sky at sunset, chrome surfaces at the gas station, etc. But these (along with his Nine Swimming Pools book, of course) are the artist working in a nicely slippery mode.
Relating to Hollywood and "Hollywood" (locations that are geographically linked but not identical), and the liquid ambitions and illusions that have historically powered both, I have a book recommendation to share:
A Very Good Book
My husband Matthew has a new book coming out July 27 from Tin House books! "Always Crashing in the Same Car: On Art, Crisis, & Los Angeles, California" is a hybrid of memoir and cultural history that explores the magic and mirages of Hollywood, the 1970s, artists forgotten and revived by time, how both creative failure and success are never exactly what they're cracked up to be. I am obviously biased but think you will really enjoy - here’s what the Los Angeles Times had to say.
If it sounds up your alley, links are all here and pre-ordering helps writers a lot (it really does impact how bookstores display it, etc). If you pre-order, email Matthew (mspecktor@gmail.com) with a receipt and he’ll send you a digital care package of all kinds of goodies—grey-market video streams, rare bits of musical and literary arcana. Also drop a note if you'd like a signed book plate!
(You can also pre-order from The Other Place, or better yet, your neighborhood bookshop)
Virtual Book Tour Events:
If you’d like to tune in, there are some fun online events planned for next week’s launch (each one will be different; no re-runs!)
Tues July 27, 6pm PST - Book Soup (LA) with Jonathan Lethem and Dana Spiotta (rsvp)
Wed July 28th, 6pm PST - City Light Books (SF) with Adam Pfahler of the band Jawbreaker (who happens to be Matthew’s high school classmate! Expect some anecdotes about ‘80s punk teenhood, rsvp)
Thur July 29th, 4pm PST/7pm EST - McNally Jackson (NYC) with Janet Fitch (rsvp)
Wed August 4th, 7pm PST - Third Place Books (Seattle) with Lili Anolik (rsvp)
Recently
I wrote a few short-ish pieces, both of which are only scratching the surface of huge questions about the ways artists and other culture-makers are trying to survive in an increasingly hostile economic/distribution ecosystem (and of course, in relation to the *actual* ecosystem!) More on this front to come.
The NFT Funhouse Mirror (Noema Magazine)
This one already feels a bit frozen in amber from when I wrote it in March/April - but if some of the hype cycle has slowed (for the moment), the same fundamental questions remain. I am grateful to the many artists and friends who shared their perspectives and concerns with me (particular shout-out to Kyle McDonald).
Close-Up: Emily Segal (Air Mail)
You might know her as one of the co-founders of K-HOLE, but in recent years, artist/trend forecaster/multidisciplinary sage Emily Segal quietly transformed into one of the best novelists around. Her “Mercury Retrograde” is, among other things, in my all-time top-5 of sharpest books about the art world and its mutating periphery - it is also just compulsively readable and hilarious. Highly recommend picking up that and all the new releases from her indie press Deluge Books.
Listening
A few weeks ago I stumbled across this 1975 song "Altogether Alone" by Hirth Martinez - a piece of smooth bossa-nova-inflected pop that also happens to be about a UFO visitation? It has been in constant rotation since. Warning: it’s a bit of an ear-worm.
Martinez has been called “Chicano music’s best-kept secret”. Growing up in East Los Angeles, he got his start in the 60’s Latin and jazz music scenes, even touring with Ray Charles, and kept busy as a session player before he was eventually discovered by Bob Dylan. Dylan introduced him to Robbie Robertson of The Band who produced his first record, 1975’s “Hirth From Earth”, which met mixed reviews. Martinez had a long career but seems to have always been more of a “musician’s musician” - he was clearly ahead of his time. I mean, look at the inside and back cover of his debut album! The whole album is great, considering our terrestrial loneliness and the cosmos from a warm, scruffy, even a bit goofy point-of-view. Stoned but grounded. Maybe it feels extra resonant right now against the backdrop of space billionaire vulgarity. Like it says on the cover, Hirth is, resolutely, from earth.
Stay cool and dry, friends,
x shc
